They were actually worse behaved when they were winning before.
One thing is for sure though, ESFC fans are quieter since the Wanderers have been winning again.

Suity

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What a load of shit Suity. The ones who want to put shit on the Wanderers are still doing so (and these are soccer haters rather than fans of any rival club). And if Sydney FC fans are quiet it's because our own club is doing poorly, much like your own silence of the past year.

In the past financial year, 12 incidents involved police at either venue. There were four at NRL games, three at the cricket, two at rugby matches and two at AFL fixtures.

But despite football being the biggest crowd-puller to the venue complex over the course of the year, only once was there a violent incident involving soccer. Once.

To recap - the other codes had 11 times more violent incidents than soccer yet football fans are the pack animals, thugs and louts (and even just like the Paris terrorists according to one talkback host, illustrating again his vile insensitivity.)

The list of banned A-League fans was apparently shopped around several NRL journos until Rebecca Wilson bit and ran with it, ultimately overshadowing the SCG announcement which would have blotted the reputation of the other codes.

Yet rugby league fans are so unpredictable, one club has called in a terrorism expert to help protect their players from ISIS - and their own codes supporters.

Youve only got to imagine a disgruntled supporter punching one of the players in the face and breaking a nose, he said. Its a real issue these days we need to be on top of.

But police sometimes seem unwilling to crack down on rugby league fans in the same way as they do in the A-League.

The leak came after a bitter public row between NSW Police Association and senator David Leyonhjelm who insisted the policing of A-League games was wholly disproportionate to the threat posed and offences committed by fans.

(Coincidentally, the NSWPA - who branded Wanderers fans "grubs" - were among the first official bodies to Tweet a link to Rebecca Wilsons article in the Sunday Telegraph on the morning it was published.)

This weekend again saw huge legions of paramilitary-style cops in a massive show of strength in Melbourne with a vast police operation, which Melbourne Victory will have to pick up the bill for.

Despite the intimidating, deliberately confrontational atmosphere created, there was no trouble.

In September though, cops clashed violently in a fistfight with Canterbury Bulldogs fans in an incident caught on video but no-one was arrested because it wasn't appropriate, according to Detective Superintendent Gavin Dengate at the time.

A few months earlier, eight to ten Bulldogs fans were set to be banned for life, the club said, for their part in another brawl that saw two men arrested and left a club official with a broken arm.

Fast forward to August and there was this brutal video of more Bulldogs fans fighting on a train, then spilling onto the platform and kicking a teenage girl repeatedly in the head.

And thats just one club, over just a few months.

I have no idea if Bulldogs are better or worse than any other club or code but while the high-minded rhetoric went on about football fans, a claim was made that rival codes had banned just 19 fans in total, across all sports, compared to 198 in the A-League.

That tells me three things - that other codes are not as intensely policed as the A-League, that its far harder to get banned than in the A-League (remember the 8-10 Bulldogs fans facing a life ban, plus the 11 non-football bashings around the SCG? Thats 19 alone, right there) and that the FFA has an itchy trigger finger when it comes to bans.

More importantly, A-League fans are unable to defend themselves against any allegations made against them, unable to see the evidence against them and unable to appeal any miscarriages of justices.

That actually is the plot of dystopian nightmare novel, The Trial by Franz Kafka. FFAs sense of justice is literally Kafka-esque.

The FFA defended its record as a responsible governing body by pointing to the long list of names on the banned list as proof it takes security seriously and has acted appropriately to try to stamp out antisocial behaviour.

And they have  but in the process, they killed the great Australian sense of a fair go. It takes a tragedy to unite rival fans, and the death of fair play brought A-League fans together like never before.

Some of those on that list have probably committed offences that earned them a justified ban. Few if any though have ever been charged, or even arrested. Almost none have ever been in court, never mind convicted. Despite the jaundiced headlines, these fans are not criminals and many were innocent altogether, while some were under the age of 18.

None of them has been able to challenge their ban. And all of them have been tarred with the same brush, whether they were allegedly involved in a violent clash or simply fell onto the pitch in an over exuberant goal celebration.

The publication, the condemnation, the lack of support from the FFA and the utterly unjust banning process it exposed was the final straw.

After years of being herded like cattle and treated as a necessary evil by a governing body wanting to sell the games unique atmosphere to corporate partners, A-League fans dropped the mic and walked out.

Damien De Bohun twisting and turning in the wind, apparently changing appeals policy from one day to the next, reassured nobody  and even on Sunday when he did apparently finally promise on live TV to introduce a formal appeal, it still required the accused to prove their innocence, rendering the entire process meaningless.

You can retain control over who does and doesn't go to your games without having to be a Stalinist dictatorship that operates above the law and without scrutiny.

It may be time-consuming and even costly, but thats your contract with fans. Its actually a two way street  you cant just take their money and treat them like vermin.

And next time someone takes potshots at your prime stakeholders, dont hesitate to defend them. To do otherwise complacently takes the fans for granted.

Until they fix it, the system stinks  and fans will increasingly smell it for the bullshit it is...

When you walk out of the tunnel and hear the crowd roar the hair on the back of your neck stands up. Your senses heighten. Eyes widen. Ears deafened by the passion of people who want you to play football for them.

There's nothing like it in the world. It's a rush, it's addictive and you can't get enough of it.

When the stadium is full it's like it's alive. It seethes and writhes, it has a beat, a breath and a pulse.

Around the world football makes stadiums come to life like no other game. Fans take this game seriously. It's life and death. It defines cities and towns and divides them. Passion, intense passion, heady evocative and playful passion, pushes players to greater heights in the colosseum's of football.

When we were kids, we thought the only way you could get some of that would be to go to Europe or South America.

The greatest crowds have defined their clubs and the sport in those countries. Liverpool and its supporters in the Kop are iconic symbols of the club and European football more broadly as are Borrusia Dortmund's fans who create an unrivaled atmosphere.

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Passionate fan base: The Wanderers fans have been out in force in recent years. Photo: Getty Images

To rival the league's around the world and to emulate their success we need to rival them in the stands.

A-League fans understand this. They don't sit idly by enjoying a match like you would watch a movie, they participate.

Other sports are envious and jealous.

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Standing up: Central Coast Mariners fans protested with a silent offering in the game against Western Sydney.Photo: Ashley Feder

They create an atmosphere that has propelled the A-League forward and one that is unique and the envy of the other codes. This must be cherished, celebrated and safeguarded.

The PFA's Australian Premier League model, which was fundamental in reforming the game, identified the fans as the game's most important stakeholder. It highlighted the importance of creating a competition that allowed the fans to truly embrace the game.

The fans have embraced the A-League. They continue to turn up in record numbers. Membership records continued to be smashed season after season, with players now witnessing passion and dedication to a level that seemed like a dream a little over 10 years ago.

However, the past week has shown there are a number of challenges that confront the game. They must be addressed if the fans are to continue drive the progress of the A-League.

Fans make the A-League what it is today. Their relationship with the game must be much more than a transaction. The passion that has powered the A-League for the past 10 years can't be sustained unless the fans feel that their relationship is a genuine one. They must feel their voices are heard and valued otherwise the A-League's most important commodity is at risk and as the result the very future of the game becomes uncertain.

It is for these reasons and many more, that we, the players, stand with the fans and offer our full support in the actions they choose to pursue in protecting their rights and interests.

Australian football can overcome the challenges that it faces. We only need to look at our history to see our ability to overcome adversity. However, we must first re-establish the same unity of purpose of that has enabled the game to progress over the past 10 years.

The players will continue to provide the same support to the fans they give us. Their relationship with the game is a unique and one that we can't do without.

We need more fans not less. We need more passion and more power for our fans. They need a greater role in the game. They need to be treated as critical stakeholders who deserve respect.